Happy New Year from the School of English and Drama at Queen Mary University of London
Please note: Semester 2 starts later this year on Monday 20 January 2020 but services and support will be available until then.
Email sed-information@qmul.ac.uk if you’re studying with us and have a question.
STUDENT OF THE MONTH
Our student (alumna actually) of the month is Nicole Brownfield! Discover her story here.
20 THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN 2020
We are excited to announce Catherine Silverstone is our new Head of School and Dominic Johnson will be our new Head of Drama from 1 July 2020. We also have lots more new faces and exciting developments, see the full list here or click the button below.
Events
APPLY BEFORE 15 JANUARY FOR UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMMES
We would love to receive an application before the UCAS deadline for our programmes.
LISTINGS
Anticolonial Hong Kong? Reflections on Revolutions of our Times
Wednesday 15 January, Institute of Advanced Study UCL
Pragya Dhital (English – British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow) chairs this urgent debate around protests in Hong Kong:
‘The 2019 Hong Kong protests have reinvigorated the city’s sense of political purpose. They are also part of a larger, global set of protests, including Beirut and Kashmir, which raise significant questions for the contemporary moment. The Hong Kong protests claim to be a ‘revolution for our times’: what does ‘revolution’ look like, and how might these protests offer a clear assessment of ‘our times’? How do the Hong Kong protests demand that we revisit the twentieth-century vocabulary of anti-imperialism — decolonisation, liberation, anticolonialism, revolution — for a twenty-first-century world? What types of revolutionary thinking is required for ‘our times’, and what role do the 2019 protests play in revising anti-imperial critique?’Book tickets
Pictland
21-22 January, Katzpace
Alumni Joseph Winer and Eilis Price are putting on their play Pictland, a political comedy which deconstructs democracy at Katzpace in January. The cast includes Alice Hope Wilson (English & Drama grad), Huw Landauer (Drama grad), Andrew Atha (Drama second year), Shavariya Padayachee (Law final year), with Caelan Oram as technical designer (Drama second year) and Roma Radford on Stage Management (History grad).
The Ritual Turn from Tarot to Tantra
Thursday 23 January, Tate Modern
Join our very own Nisha Ramayya (Creative Writing), Candida Powell-Williams and Sarah Shin to explore ritual practices What is driving the ritual turn in today’s poetry and art? From tarot, spells and tantra – and their relationships to today. With readings and images, the speakers will consider how mystical ideas find form in poetry and sculpture. Using the Ignota Diary, the speakers will discuss how to become more creative and focused in 2020. Nisha and Candida are contributors to the Ignota Diary 2020. The diary is a tool for everyday life, with seasonal rituals, tarot spreads and astrology charts.
Jay Parini Public Lecture, ‘Writing the Biographical Novel’
Thursday 23 January, Queen Mary University of London
Public lecture by acclaimed American writer Jay Parini A prize-winning novelist, biographer, poet, and critic, Jay Parini’s biographical novel about Walter Benjamin, Benjamin’s Crossing, was a New York Times Notable Book in 1997. He has written biographies of John Steinbeck, William Faulkner, Gore Vidal, and Robert Frost (which won the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize in 2000). His celebrated novel about Tolstoy’s final days, The Last Station, was adapted into a film starring Helen Mirren, Christopher Plummer, and James McAvoy. In 2020 Parini is a Distinguished Visiting Fellow in QMUL’s School of English and Drama; he is D. E. Axinn Professor of English and Creative Writing at Middlebury College in Vermont.
Holocaust
Memorial Day in the People’s Palace:
A Special Preview Performance:
‘Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski’
Monday 27 January, Queen Mary University
of London
Queen Mary University London is proud to be hosting the UK premiere of a virtuoso performance by the Oscar-nominated actor David Strathairn (Good Night and Good Luck; Lincoln) in collaboration with the international charity Human Rights Watch and prestigious US-global Georgetown University.
This timely work brings to life the legacy of Jan Karski, a Polish Catholic World War II hero, Holocaust witness, and late beloved professor at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service. Together, we will explore the enduring lessons of Karski’s extraordinary life — especially his belief in humanity, even in the darkest times.
The evening includes a panel discussion and live Q&A with the Director, Actor, politician and human rights expert Baroness Arminka Helic, and Queen Mary’s Penny Green, Professor of Law and specialist in the study of genocide and state crime.
News
Markman Ellis (English) talks with Melvyn Bragg on the BBC Radio 4’s In Our Time about the cultural history of coffee.
Listen now
Patrick Flanery (English)‘s new book Night for Day is reviewed in Times Literary Supplement here:
‘For those who look to the 50s as a time of American greatness, Flanery’s novel stands as a forceful corrective.’.
Suzi Lewis (Admin Team) organised a successful reverse advent calendar collecting food for Bow Food Bank at a vital time just before Christmas.
Aoife Monks (Drama) has made the book Costume at the National Theatre, which explores what goes into designing and creating the unique costumes seen in National Theatre productions. to accompany the free exhibition now on at the National Theatre on the South Bank.
Network (QMUL research centre) is currently collaborating with the Indian Institute of Technology on a project: Mapping the Economic Worth of the Creative Industries in West Bengal.
Winter Graduation Congratulations to all of our students who graduated on Monday 16 December 2019. Remember that alumni can use the careers service for 2 years after you graduate. Our English and Drama careers consultant Laura Skedgell is available for appointments in 2020.
| Whilst we try our hardest to make sure listings are accurate we recommend contacting the event organiser or registering before attending as mistakes can be made and we apologise for these. |
